Bridgport curfew sees some success

Denis J. O'Malley

Updated 11:05 pm, Friday, April 19, 2013

Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudet reports to the members on the City Council's Joint Committee on Public Safety and Transportation Ordinance about the issue of the curfew implemented in the city to curb violence, which was held at City Hall in Bridgeport, Conn. on Friday April 19, 2013.

Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudet reports to the members on the...

Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudet, seated at left arm raised, reports to the members on the City Council's Joint Committee on Public Safety and Transportation Ordinance about the issue of the curfew implemented in the city to curb violence, which was held at City Hall in Bridgeport, Conn. on Friday April 19, 2013.
Photo: Christian Abraham

City Council members Warren Blunt, left, and Steven Stafstrom, listen to Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudet as he reports to the City Council's Joint Committee on Public Safety and Transportation Ordinance about the issue of the curfew implemented in the city to curb violence, which was held at City Hall in Bridgeport, Conn. on Friday April 19, 2013.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudet reports to the members on the City Council's Joint Committee on Public Safety and Transportation Ordinance about the issue of the curfew implemented in the city to curb violence, which was held at City Hall in Bridgeport, Conn. on Friday April 19, 2013.
Photo: Christian Abraham

BRIDGEPORT -- Homicides may have dropped more than 90 percent in the six months since the city's youth curfew ordinance forced teens indoors during the dark hours, but the streets are cold in the winter and summer is coming.

"We need to gear up for that," City Councilman Warren Blunt said during a special meeting of the council's public safety and ordinance committees Friday to review the curfew's efficacy.

After several months of consideration, the council resurrected a revised version of a long-dormant ordinance that bars unsupervised children under 18 to be out and about after 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Blunt proposed reinstating the curfew last January, spurred by the shooting death of 14-year-old Justin Thompson, who was killed on Seaview Avenue after midnight.

The action got Mayor Bill Finch's backing last summer and the council passed the ordinance in July, five days after another teen -- 15-year-old Keijahnae "Nu Nu" Robinson -- was shot in the head after a Sweet 16 party.

In a brief presentation at the meeting Friday night, Police Chief Joseph Gaudett told the committees that the one homicide recorded between September and February made for a 91.7 drop from the 12 killings that felled city residents in the same period a year prior.

Before the curfew went into effect, 52 percent of the city's homicides occurred during the hours that youths are now legally forbidden from fraternizing outdoors, he added.

Still, the chief stopped short of placing all of the crime-fighting credit on the curfew, which only resulted in 11 "documented contacts" with city youth on six different occasions since it became effective.

Eight resulted in verbal warnings and three resulted in written warnings. None of the contacts resulted in fines, as they were all the first offense by the teenagers involved.

Parents can be fined between $25 and $99 if their child repeatedly violates the curfew.

Among the discussion of promoting the curfew in the media and through mailers to parents in anticipation of summer break, Councilwoman Michelle Lyons touched on a prominent argument against the curfew -- that officers will waste time baby-sitting the city's teens.

"We have to get people to understand that this is only a tool," she said. "This is not what the police department is spending 24 hours a day doing."

With the curfew, Gaudett said officers "really have been able to have an impact on behavior," but ultimately agreed that things may be different once teens no longer have to get home to bed, set early-morning alarm clocks and wake up for class.

The committees planned informally to meet in another six months to revisit the issue. No changes were recommended to the ordinance, save one.

"I would recommend that we continue and get prepared for the summer," Blunt said.